A HISTORY OF NORFOLK William de Scohies (presumably a Norman from ficouis, near Les Andelys) held a composite fee. His lands are said to have been sold, and thus to have come into the barony of GifFard, from which they became a part of the Clare estates. Ralf de Bella Fago, w^ho held a similarly composite fee, seems to have been related to WiUiam, bishop of Thetford. His lands re- mained almost unaltered in the fourteenth century as the Barony of Rie. Much of his holding had previously been in Stigand's hands, and Osmund, a thegn of Stigand, is named as his ' antecessor,' ' as is also Eudo, son of Clamahoc' Rainald son of Ivo similarly succeeded his father Ivo, and through him Wihenoc, one of the despoilers of Ely.* His lands also became part of the Clare inheritance. Ralf de Toesni, a benefactor of St. Taurin, Evreux, and a holder in several English counties, got possession of Harold's manor of Necton, vv^ith its dependencies, and this constituted the bulk of his Norfolk estate, w^hich remained for a considerable period in the family, and w^as later augmented by the acquisition of Saham Toney. The fee of Hugh de Montfort, the later honour of Haughley, seems to have become attached to the office of the constable of Dover. In Norfolk Hugh appears as the successor of a Saxon Bond,* though a single estate, that at Wykes in Garboldisham, was derived from Gudmund, the brother of Abbot Wulfric of Ely. The Inquisttio EIie?isis tells us that the hundred bears witness that this manor ' semper jacuit ad abbatiam.' ^ The same Gudmund was Hugh's predecessor in Essex.* The relationship of the Honor Constabularie to the office of Constable of England may be more profitably discussed in connexion with Suffiolk. The small estate of Eudo Dapifer in Norfolk seems not to have passed into the honour of Clare, as did his Essex property, but to have gone to another branch of the family, escheating to the crown on the death of Stephen de Cressi. As in Essex, Eudo was the successor of Lisois de Moutiers.' Walter Giffard's estate, with that of William de Scohies, fell to the Clares. He appears to have succeeded to Hervey de Vere, who succeeded Bodin de Vere.* As in Essex, so in Norfolk, Ralf Bainard owed a considerable part of his holding to a Saxon lady, Ailid.' This fee escheated to the crown, and was re-granted to form the barony of Fitz- Walter. It is noteworthy that the lands held under Ralf Bainard by Geoffrey Bainard reappear in the fourteenth century in the hands of a Fulk Bainard, who holds the barony of Fitz- Walter. The honour of Hatfield Peverel has been sufficiently dealt with under Essex.^" Ketel, whom Ranulf Peverel succeeded at Great Melton (not Melton Constable), had also held Frating, in Essex. In this fee, as in the previous case, we find a John Peverel holding in the fourteenth century what Warin, an under-tenant, held at the date of the survey, and conclude that Warin was a kinsman of Ranulf Peverel. Robert de Verli's Norfolk fee is of interest, as having been given him in exchange for land in the Rodings in Essex. The compensation seems to have been taken out of the forfeitures due to Earl Ralf s rebellion. This fee can still be traced in the fourteenth century, when it was held by Philip de Virli, no longer in chief, but through Hugh Bardolf, of the earl of ' Dom. Bk. f. 151*. ' Ibid. ff. 138, 226^. ' Ibid. f. i6i3.
- Ibid. f. 197^. ' Inq. Com. Cantab, p. 140.
' F. C. H. Essex, i, 346. ' Dom. Bk. f. 239^. « Ibid. fF. 115, 242.
- F. C. H. Essex, i, 347. '» Ibid, i, 346.
20
